Review - Independent Land Tour - Kenai Peninsula - May 06

[zarleydog]

For those of you who might be considering going south instead of north to Denali on your pre-cruise land tour, here’s a review of our time on the Kenai Peninsula, prior to our cruise on the Diamond Princess. Unlike our prior trip to Alaska in August 2001, we were blessed with sunshine and blue skies throughout our time on land, which made our travels even more fun.

 

Day 1 - - arrive Anchorage at 11:45 p.m. after a 7 hour Alaskan Air flight from Chicago; take cab to Jewel Lake B&B (about three miles from airport in a suburban area). We had the place to ourselves, since it was early in the season (5/15/06). The place was neat and quaint and perfect for those who didn’t feel like traveling any more after a long flight. (Cost: $150ish with taxes). http://www.jewellakebandb.com

 

Day 2 - - take cab to rental car office – Harley’s Rent Alaska – near airport. Picked up car that we would later drop off in Whittier. By 10:00 a.m., we’re on the road to our second night’s destination at the bottom of the peninsula: Homer. The four-hour drive was incredibly scenic with a lot of quaint little towns (and dall sheep on the mountains) along the way. (Our Milepost book was very helpful in telling us what to expect on the Sterling Highway).

 

Spring had come late to Alaska, so much of the land was still snow covered and/or frozen. Stopped for a tasty lunch at the Summit Lake Lodge near a town called Moose Pass. The lake was frozen over, but beautiful. Lunch for two (including desert): $35ish.

 

Stopped in Soldotna at Uncle Lloyd’s “Land of the Living Trees” - - a place where virtually everything you could imagine is carved out of wood. A great place to pick up some unique souvenirs.

 

Continued on our journey, stopping to take photos as the situations warranted it, and arrived in Homer at about 4:00 p.m. There’s an overlook above the town that offers wonderful views of it. Had our picture taken with the “Homer, Alaska: Halibut Fishing Capital of the World” sign.

 

Checked into the Lands’ End Resort, located at the end of the Homer spit (sandbar). http://www.lands-end-resort.com The Lands’ End has rooms with balconies that overlook the bay. While not a luxury hotel by any means, the view is wonderful and we enjoyed our one-night stay. Cost: $105ish.

 

Had a wonderful halibut and salmon combination dinner at Captain Patties on the boardwalk at a table overlooking the bay. Cost of dinner for two (minus alcohol): $65ish. After dinner, we walked around town a while, enjoying the beach and the large number of eagles we were seeing on virtually every pole and rooftop.

 

Day 3 - - Had breakfast at the Sourdough Express Bakery and Café http://www.freshsourdoughexpress.com . Tasty but service was a little slow. Wasn’t overly impressed with the reindeer sausage. Cost for two: $30ish. On the way to breakfast we encountered two moose in front of a church, so we stopped for that photo op.

 

Left Homer and proceeded north toward Seward - - our destination for the next three nights. Stopped at various scenic vistas along the way including a Russian village near Anchor Point, where we picked up some Russian food from a delightful B&B/café owner to eat later that evening.

 

Arrived at our B&B in Seward, the Alaska’s Point of View http://www.alaskaspointofview.com , (cost: $340ish for three nights) by late afternoon. Located a few blocks behind the heart of downtown Seward, it was just the quiet little getaway we were looking for.

 

Day 4 - - At 10:00 a.m., took a Kenai Fjords boat tour (8.5 hours with Fox Island – cost: $130ish per person includes lunch and dinner) http://www.kenaifjords.com out of downtown Seward that was incredible. Saw whales, bears, mountain goats, sea lions, otters, eagles - - virtually anything you could imagine. This was one of the best boat tours we had ever taken. The captain was very knowledgeable, the ride smooth and the weather perfect. On the way back to Seward, we stopped at Fox Island’s lodge for a salmon bake.

 

Day 5 - - After breakfast, headed to Exit Glacier, just outside of Seward. Walked to the face of the glacier and around the area - - a nice, fairly easy hike. Afterward, we headed to our scheduled 11:30 a.m. tour with Seavey’s Ididaride – a dog sled ride with dogs who were in training for the Ididarod. http://www.ididaride.com/sleddogtour.htm (Cost: $50 per person) The dogs barked when we entered the kennel area, because they were all so anxious to be chosen for the ride. You could just feel their enthusiasm, and that made the two mile ride so much fun. The tour guides told stories of their race experiences and gave us a tour of the training camp. Had lunch right down the road from the camp at Resurrection Roadhouse – good sandwiches and excellent sweet potato fries – (Cost: $30ish)

 

For our final activity in Seward, we chose a tour of the Alaska Sealife Center - - a cross between a zoo and a science center - - and a nice way to see Alaskan marine life up close and personal. Had a delicious halibut dinner at Ray’s Waterfront restaurant (at the recommendation of our B&B owner) (dinner for two: $75ish)

 

Day 6 - - Awoke to our first rainy day of the vacation and headed off to Whittier to catch our ship. After stopping briefly at a nearby wildlife refuge, caught the 12:30 p.m. inbound tunnel and entered Whittier. Dropped off the rental car (total cost: $266 excluding gasoline) and was onboard in 15 minutes.

 

Bottom line: if you’ve already done Denali and are looking for something different, consider the Kenai Peninsula. It has a lot to offer.

[Chenega]

So glad you enjoyed the Kenai Peninsula. Locals love to go there for our getaway from Anchorage.

[Budget Queen]

This is a great post, again claiming the excellent touring opportunities not to be missed. :) Excellent well written post.

[tapia]

Great review! Thank you for posting!!!!!!!!

 

I KNOW I'm greedy--but, do you have any pictures?

[NancyIL]

Thanks for your great review! So - how was the cruise in comparison to the land portion? Also...I assume you have been to Denali previously, so care to tell us what your itinerary looked like on that trip?

[lstrong]

Thank you so much! We're planning a 2 week land tour in 2007 with Homer, Seward and Kenai Penn. our top priority this time. Smart renting a car away from the airport - the airport taxes shocked us last trip. Thank you again for the great information. Laurie

[zarleydog]

Budget Queen -- Thanks for the compliment ! Your ongoing contributions to this board were essential to our planning.

 

tapia -- We only took around 1,200 images... I'll organize and post some of them eventually.

 

NancyIL -- We've never been to Denali. A Northern-route pre-cruise will be the carrot that draws us back in a few years....

We were afraid that the cruise would be a letdown after the inland tour, but it wasn't at all. (We'll review the cruise portion before too long.)

 

Also, I quite enjoyed the reindeer sausage ! (My wife wrote the review.)